1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus. To be specific, the present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus provided with an ultrasound probe to and from which an acoustic coupler can be attached and detached.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus is used for diagnosis of a heart and an abdominal organ like a liver, and is also used for diagnosis of other various sites. Conventionally, there is a case of mounting an acoustic coupler on the ultrasound transmission/reception surface of an ultrasound probe in order to appropriately regulate the ultrasound transmission/reception surface of the ultrasound probe and regulate the convergence speed of ultrasound waves for each site.
Therefore, the shape and material of the ultrasound transmission/reception surface of the acoustic coupler varies depending on a diagnosed site. In a state that an acoustic coupler having an ultrasound transmission/reception surface of appropriate shape and so on for each diagnosed site is selected and mounted on the ultrasound probe, diagnosis by the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus is performed.
When the acoustic coupler is mounted, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus needs correction of a medical image, because mounting the acoustic coupler causes change in display depth on the medical image, refraction of an ultrasound beam, and so on. Also, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus needs correction of a medical image, depending on the ultrasound propagation property of a diagnosed site. That is to say, when the acoustic coupler is mounted, the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus needs change of the conditions for transmission/reception of ultrasound waves in accordance with the type of the acoustic coupler.
Such change of the conditions for transmission/reception of ultrasound waves may require a complicated operation. Therefore, conventionally, a circuit such as a memory that stores identifications is installed in the acoustic coupler, and a circuit for acquiring the identification from the memory is installed in the ultrasound probe.
There is a proposal of a method of specifying the type of the mounted acoustic coupler based on the acquisition of the identification and correcting the thickness and sound speed value of the acoustic coupler (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications Nos. 5-76528 and 2003-70788).
However, such a method of storing identifications in an acoustic coupler and electrically reading the identifications has a problem that the structure of the acoustic coupler is complicated. Moreover, there is a problem that the ultrasound probe needs a structure for recognizing the identification and therefore the structure of the ultrasound probe is complicated.